No Major Changes Expected to White Spaces NPRM; ATSC 3.0 Implications Seen

The FCC is expected to approve an NPRM Friday, pushed by Microsoft, which would allow TV white space devices to operate at higher power levels in less congested areas. Major changes from Chairman Ajit Pai's proposals aren't likely, industry and FCC officials said in interviews this week. The biggest change is expected to be inclusion of a footnote saying channels 36 and 37 issues need to be addressed separately. GE Healthcare insists new operations in the TV spectrum must not harm sensitive wireless medical telemetry services operating there. GEHC didn't comment now. The Open Technology Institute at New America sought changes. The group asked “about a potential technical issue concerning the important proposal to authorize mobile use of TVWS within geo-fenced areas defined by the TV Bands Database,” said a filing in docket 20-36. Broadcasters and the NAB want to make sure the white spaces proceeding doesn’t become “a backdoor spectrum allocation,” said One Media Executive Vice President-Strategic and Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz in an interview. “It’s broadcast spectrum for use by broadcasters.” Some planned uses for distributed transmission systems as part of the transition to ATSC 3.0 could be adjacent to or make use of white spaces spectrum, said broadcast industry officials. The FCC is expected to consider a petition on DTS from NAB and America's Public Television Stations later this year. Use of the white spaces shouldn’t be allowed to affect broadcaster hopes for DTS, Fritz said. The DTS proceeding and the single frequency networks it would encourage aren’t necessary for 3.0 to launch but are important for “full market deployment,” Fritz said. NAB declined comment. NAB officials told an aide to Pai the FCC should approve the NPRM as is. “Much of the draft reflects significant agreement reached between NAB and Microsoft after months of discussions,” NAB said. “We look forward to working with the Commission and Microsoft to develop final rules that allow greater flexibility for potential white spaces operations in rural areas while continuing to provide robust protections for licensed services.”